North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2012

North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2012

← 2010 13 May 2012 2017 →
All 237 seats of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia 119 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	59.6%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hannelore Kraft Norbert Röttgen Sylvia Löhrmann Party SPD CDU Green Last election 67 seats, 34.5% 67 seats, 34.6% 23 seats, 12.1% Seats before 67 67 23 Seats won 99 67 29 Seat change 32 6 Popular vote 3,050,160 2,050,633 884,136 Percentage 39.1% 26.3% 11.3% Swing 4.6% 8.3% 0.8%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Christian Lindner Joachim Paul Katharina Schwabedissen Party FDP Pirates Left Last election 13 seats, 6.7% 0 seats, 1.6% 11 seats, 5.6% Seats before 13 0 11 Seats won 22 20 0 Seat change 9 20 11 Popular vote 669,971 608,957 194,539 Percentage 8.6% 7.8% 2.5% Swing 1.9% 6.2% 3.1%
First votes in the electoral districts.   CDU   SPD
Minister-President before election Hannelore Kraft SPD Minister-President designate Hannelore Kraft SPD

Hannelore Kraft
SPD

Hannelore Kraft
SPD

The North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2012 was a snap election held on 13 May 2012, to elect members to the Landtag of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, after the former Landtag was dissolved on 14 March 2012. The red-green minority government led by Minister-President Hannelore Kraft was returned with a 19-seat majority and were able to continue governing the state.

The opposition consisted of the CDU, led by Norbert Röttgen since 2010, the FDP and The Left.

Germany's largest state has often been described as a bellwether in recent years. The Social Democrats led the state's governments continuously from 1966 until a CDU-FDP coalition took control in the 2005 election. The defeat in the 2005 election led to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder calling early federal elections, which he lost.

The Red-Green coalition formed a minority government with Hannelore Kraft as Minister President after emerging one seat short of a governing majority in the previous election. The Landtag was dissolved after the government failed to pass the budget on 14 March 2012. All 3 opposition parties voted against the budget. The coalition were expecting the Free Democrats to abstain from voting on the budget and this would have allowed the Red-Green coalition to continue governing.